Former Haas team principal Günther Steiner takes his hat off to Toto Wolff. The current analyst praises the Mercedes team principal for how he let his drivers George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli race in Canada, even though the two fought each other ‘as if they were racing against another team’. Steiner also expects more spectacle on the circuit for the time being thanks to the Mercedes drivers: ‘I am quite sure we will see this until the summer break’.
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The Canadian GP was an exciting race especially for Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. The Austrian had to watch as his drivers George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli fought each other fiercely for the race lead. The two did not take each other off the track, but Russell did suffer a retirement in lap thirty.
Former Haas team principal Günther Steiner praises Wolff for the way he handled the internal battle between his drivers. “Toto Wolff really let his drivers race in Canada,” Steiner analyzes in the Red Flags podcast. “He didn’t interfere too much, said nothing. He just let them go. Really hats off to him. If you are a team principal in such a position, you tend to say: ‘Hey guys, what’s going on here?’ But he didn’t. He let them go, just let them race. In my opinion, the fact that Toto didn’t immediately put an end to it was a good idea.”
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‘We will keep seeing this until the summer break’
According to Steiner, it is also not the last time the Austrian will have to hold his breath. The former team principal predicts more battles at the front of the grid between Russell and Kimi Antonelli. “I am quite sure we will see this at least until the summer break,” says Steiner. “And if they are still in the same position after that, I think it will stay that way. But it’s mainly about the intensity.”
The former team principal then draws a comparison with McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who fought a title battle with each other and Max Verstappen in 2025. “The McLarens normally didn’t race against each other. They just met each other at some point. But these two guys (Russell and Kimi Antonelli, ed.) kept racing as if they were racing against another team,” Steiner observes. “Not like you would race against your teammates. In my opinion, they did remarkably well.”
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